Bench :
Justice D.P Mohapatra, Justice Brijesh Kumar
Issue :
What is the meaning of ‘mental cruelty’ to invoke Section 13(1)(i-a) of Hindu Marriage Act,1955 for a divorce petition?
Facts:
•
The appellant (wife) married the respondent in 1985 according to Hindu rites. They lived together till 28-4-1986. After that, they started living separately.• The husband filed the petition in 1986 seeking divorce on grounds of cruelty & desertion. The health status of the wife & her inappropriate behavior was the main reason behind the petition.
• However, the wife denied all the allegations based on her health & behavior & said that her husband forced her to give divorce on mutual consent earlier.
• The trial court dismissed the petition of the husband. He filed an appeal in HC & the divorce was granted.
• The wife filed an appeal before the Division Bench of HC which was rejected. Now, she approached the SC.
Appellant’s contentions:
• It was contended that even if the parties didn’t enjoy normal sexual relationship & heated arguments didn’t establish the grounds of cruelty for divorce as has been granted by the HC.
Respondent’s contentions:
• It was contended that the HC is right in granting the divorce as the husband was not made aware of the wife’s health & also she refused to get any treatment for the same. Her behavior has also caused embarrassment to the husband in front of his friends & office.
Judgement:
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal & upheld the decision of HC in granting divorce. The facts & circumstances provides that mental cruelty has been caused to the husband due to the actions & behavior of the wife.
"Cruelty for the purpose of Section 13(1)(i-a) is to be taken as a behavior by one spouse towards the other, which causes reasonable apprehension in the mind of the latter that it is not safe for him or her to continue the matrimonial relationship with the other. Mental cruelty is a state of mind and feeling with one of the spouses due to the behavior or behavioral pattern by the other. Unlike the case of physical cruelty, mental cruelty is difficult to establish by direct evidence. It is necessarily a matter of inference to be drawn from the facts and circumstances of the case. A feeling of anguish, disappointment and frustration in one spouse caused by the conduct of the other can only be appreciated on assessing the attending facts and circumstances in which the two partners of matrimonial life have been living. The inference has to be drawn from the attending facts and circumstances taken cumulatively. In case of mental cruelty it will not be a correct approach to take an instance of misbehavior in isolation and then pose the question whether such behavior is sufficient by itself to cause mental cruelty. The approach should be to take the cumulative effect of the facts and circumstances emerging from the evidence on record and then draw a fair inference whether the petitioner in the divorce petition has been subjected to mental cruelty due to conduct of the other."
- Para 21 (Praveen Mehta v. Inderjit Mehta)
